Glastonbury Extras

[Kieran1990]

Noticed this year that South Western Railway have added additional services to and from Castle Cary for the festival by extending the hourly Waterloo-Salisbury. Didn’t know there was that much slack in the Class 159 fleet to extend hourly- assume they are just 3 car?

Not sure if SWR have underestimated the volume of people travelling. The first 2 this morning have picked up some delays en route and National rail have advised none of these services will he making their booked call at Clapham Jct due to overcrowding.

http://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/train/W30447/2019/06/26/advanced

Train operator affected

South Western Railway

Description
There will be a reduced South Western Railway service to and from Clapham Junction today due to a higher volume of passengers travelling due to Glastonbury Festival taking place.

Trains may be delayed by up to 30 minutes or cancelled. Disruption is expected until the end of the day.

Customer Advice:
For the rest of the day trains running from London Waterloo towards Castle Cary will no longer call at Clapham Junction. If you are travelling to Glastonbury Festival please travel to London Waterloo to catch your train to Castle Cary. This is due to large crowds travelling towards Castle Cary which is seeing trains leave full from London Waterloo.

How do GWR handle it out of Paddington/ Reading? Is there a queuing system or is it a mandatory booked train system in operation?
I know GWR switch the x15 Cardiff to run to and from Castle Cary




may have posted in the wrong thread- Mods please move if I have

 

[SWT_USER]

They run these every year I think.

Possibly more helpful this year as presumably GWR will only be sending 5 coach IET's in the absence of anything else.

 

[matt_world2004]

Will clapham junction castle carey tickets be valid at London waterloo if the train isnt stopping at cj

 

[nickswift99]

There's a queuing system in place at Paddington (This is done for all major events). GWR encourage advance tickets which helps manage the demand.

There's no queuing system at Reading or other intermediate stops (AFAIK)

 

[Kieran1990]

They run these every year I think.

Possibly more helpful this year as presumably GWR will only be sending 5 coach IET's in the absence of anything else.

Oh probably- maybe even a 2 car turbo?

 

[Antman]

sent a 2 X 5 car IEP today....

 

[parkender102]

My boss was an hour late this morning travelling from Clapham Junction to Farnborough and said it was chaos at Clapham Junction when he left around 8:00. It was only then I realised from his description of the people on the packed trains that today is the day the gates open at the Glastonbury Festival. Luckily I missed all that as I travel on the 05:37 Clapham Junction to Woking - Lucky Me! I believe the roads are bad at Glastonbury too. After getting stuck in a queue one year on a road for 3 Hours at Glastonbury we took an Ordnance Survey Map every year after and navigated a back way via small country lanes. The lane we used brought you out right at the front of the queue at the entrance to one of the Car Parks! Oh for the days when you used to be able to drive your vehicle onto the actual Festival Site itself and park yourself for the whole Festival between the Pyramid Stage and The Other Stage.

 

[Taplowgreen]

Are GWR running extras to Castle Cary out of Paddington? (To be honest if you haven't got on at Paddington, you'll be very lucky to get on at Reading today, they generally leave Paddington packed to the rafters in my experience).

 

[Mag_seven]

Are GWR running extras to Castle Cary out of Paddington?

In a word, yes.

http://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/sea...2019/06/26/0000-2359?stp=S&show=all&order=wtt

 

[Kieran1990]

Are GWR running extras to Castle Cary out of Paddington? (To be honest if you haven't got on at Paddington, you'll be very lucky to get on at Reading today, they generally leave Paddington packed to the rafters in my experience).

Running generally hourly xx15 from Paddington, replacing the usual Cardiff path.

Wonder how the South Wales Pax feel about dropping to 1tph from Cardiff to London and vice versa

 

[ABDeltic]

1V15 0750 Waterloo was delayed 20 minutes at Clapham Jn this morning due to overcrowding and people trying to get on. After that they took out the CLJ stops on these trains. However there are a number of delays and cancellations to the regular WOE trains due to this and the extension of the regular Salisbury trains to Castle Cary. I do think SWR are catering for the Glastonbury people at the expense of their regular passengers.

 

[Mag_seven]

Running generally hourly xx15 from Paddington, replacing the usual Cardiff path.

Wonder how the South Wales Pax feel about dropping to 1tph from Cardiff to London and vice versa

Only the 07.15 and 11.15 from PAD to CDF are cancelled to make way.

 

[Mintona]

They run these every year I think.

Possibly more helpful this year as presumably GWR will only be sending 5 coach IET's in the absence of anything else.

Not the case. The 15.28 Paddington - Castle Cary is a 5 car IET, all of the other seven additional trains have been 9 or 10 cars.

 

[HamworthyGoods]

Only the 07.15 and 11.15 from PAD to CDF are cancelled to make way.

As has the 09.36 Paddington to Cheltenham

 

[SWT_USER]

Not the case. The 15.28 Paddington - Castle Cary is a 5 car IET, all of the other seven additional trains have been 9 or 10 cars.

Thanks - obviously at the expense of regular timetabled services. Not sure if that's the same every year.

 

[HamworthyGoods]

Thanks - obviously at the expense of regular timetabled services. Not sure if that's the same every year.

The same is done every year on Great Western it’s quite an established plan which the franchise agreement allows for in dealing with exceptional demand in a similar way to the Cheltenham Festival sees changes to other services.

 

[Ianno87]

Thanks - obviously at the expense of regular timetabled services. Not sure if that's the same every year.

The same is done every year on Great Western it’s quite an established plan which the franchise agreement allows for in dealing with exceptional demand in a similar way to the Cheltenham Festival sees changes to other services.

Almost as if GWR are re-deploying resources to be able to shift a greater number of people overall...

 

[Mintona]

As has the 09.36 Paddington to Cheltenham

The 09.36 direct Paddington to Cheltenham didn’t run today (neither did the 13.36) but passengers were able to travel on the 09.30 or 13.30 Bristol trains to change at Swindon, from where an additional shuttle train was running in the path of the normal service train. So there was still a service that people could travel on and arrive no later at their destination.

 

[800002]

It's usually planned very carefully each year - even down to which platforms the services call at (RDG and PAD mainly) as the festival goers tended to load up the oposing doorway with bags et Al when boarding at pad or on thier return.
Will certainly be interesting to see how the IEPs cope.

Can the down Yeovil (platform loop) platform take a five car IEP?

 

[800002]

Almost as if GWR are re-deploying resources to be able to shift a greater number of people overall...

Is that not thier game plan for any special event?
I'd suggest made significantly more tricky by lack of aditional rollingstock.
Give me a HST anyday!

 

[Wychwood93]

Not really under the 'Glasto extras' theme, but more of a consequence of Glastonbury. Travelling up on the 1A82 Penzance-Paddington on Wednesday, I joined at Exeter, we slowed to around 21 mph through Castle Cary due to the winding crowds from the bus area (up country side of station) which then stretched back onto the up platform - all of the former passengers herded within the yellow line by police - not sure if the latter BTP or locals. A job well executed. Better to whisk through at line speed! Anyway, I was 2 early into Reading - 802018/802004. The front five, where I was, quite sparse with passengers as 004 attached to 018 at Plymouth and non-stop from there. A station p.a announcement at Exeter to indicate that the front 5 was a tad thin on passengers - a well done to GWR for that. Anyone else noticed a lower speed on non-stop services through Cary as a warm Glastonbury gets into full swing?

 

[father_jack]

Not really under the 'Glasto extras' theme, but more of a consequence of Glastonbury. Travelling up on the 1A82 Penzance-Paddington on Wednesday, I joined at Exeter, we slowed to around 21 mph through Castle Cary due to the winding crowds from the bus area (up country side of station) which then stretched back onto the up platform - all of the former passengers herded within the yellow line by police - not sure if the latter BTP or locals. A job well executed. Better to whisk through at line speed! Anyway, I was 2 early into Reading - 802018/802004. The front five, where I was, quite sparse with passengers as 004 attached to 018 at Plymouth and non-stop from there. A station p.a announcement at Exeter to indicate that the front 5 was a tad thin on passengers - a well done to GWR for that. Anyone else noticed a lower speed on non-stop services through Cary as a warm Glastonbury gets into full swing?

There was an official temporary speed restriction imposed that day.

 

[CC 72100]

No, this year as opposed to an official TSR, speed reduction was achieved by deliberately restrictive signalling through Castle Cary, meaning a single yellow at the signal prior to the station from all 3 directions.

 

[306024]

No, this year as opposed to an official TSR, speed reduction was achieved by deliberately restrictive signalling through Castle Cary, meaning a single yellow at the signal prior to the station from all 3 directions.

This is similar to what used to happen at Chelmsford for the V Festivals. Lot easier than putting speed boards out and all the documentation that comes with it.

 

[father_jack]

No, this year as opposed to an official TSR, speed reduction was achieved by deliberately restrictive signalling through Castle Cary, meaning a single yellow at the signal prior to the station from all 3 directions.

Yes, you are correct, I misunderstood the instructions. S&T restricted as you described.

 

[CC 72100]

Yes, you are correct, I misunderstood the instructions. S&T restricted as you described.

No worries - in previous years it has been a bona fide TSR as you've alluded to.

 

[Kieran1990]

Anyone care to think how much carnage they’ll be on Monday at Castle Carey trying to get people onto 5 car 800’s and 3 car 159’s?
Do they limit the amount per train or just let them fill to rafters?

 

[dk1]

Anyone care to think how much carnage they’ll be on Monday at Castle Carey trying to get people onto 5 car 800’s and 3 car 159’s?
Do they limit the amount per train or just let them fill to rafters?

As long as you can shut the doors they are good to go.

 

[Bikeman78]

Running generally hourly xx15 from Paddington, replacing the usual Cardiff path.

Wonder how the South Wales Pax feel about dropping to 1tph from Cardiff to London and vice versa

When the Bristol route goes up to four trains per hour, hopefully they'll pinch some of those instead.

 

[initiation]

Does anyone know a rough total for the number of festival goers carried to/from the event by Train?
I saw a comment from somebody on twitter claiming without GWR operating the event would not be possible. This seems unlikely. If I had to guess I would say somewhere in the 10k/15k range each way by train. Numbers not to be ignored but hardly the main flow.